Bahamas Virtual Jewish History Tour

The small Jewish community in the Bahamas has origins dating to the 17th century. The British first settled the Bahamas in 1620; however, few Jews came to the live on the islands. Luis De Torres, who was the official interpreter for Christopher Columbus, is thought to be have been the first Jew and European to set foot in the New World when the Santa Maria landed at San Salvador in 1492. Torres was a Marrano, a “secret Jew,” who officially practiced Catholicism but was escaping the dangers of Europe during the Inquisition. He was fluent in Arabic, Hebrew, Chaldean, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Latin. Another Jew, Moses Franks, served as attorney general and chief justice of the islands in the 18th century. After World War I, a few Jewish families from Poland, Russia, and Britain settled in Nassau. Later Jews came to Freeport on Grand Bahama Island.

Luis De Torres Synagogue in Freeport

Today there are about 300 Jewish people living in the Bahamas.

The Luis De Torres Synagogue in Freeport was built in 1972. The building originally belonged to a bank and, now that there are no longer Jews living in the city, the bank has retaken control over the building.

On New Providence Island in Nassau there is a special section of a cemetery that is walled-off for Jewish graves at the corner of Shirley St. and Lover's Lane.

The Community in Nassau is named The Nassau Jewish Congregation and is affiliated to the Union of Jewish Congregations of Latin America and the Caribbean. At the corner of Shirley St. and Lover’s Lane, in Nassau on New Providence Island, there is a special section of a cemetery that is walled-off for Jewish graves.

There is a Chabad in the Baha Mar resort in the Cable Beach neighborhood that has a minyan every Shabbat morning (prior to the onset of the coronavirus). The Samantha and Sarah Nadal Hebrew School has courses for children ages 5 through 13. Kosher food products can be found in local grocery stores.

Sources: World Jewish Congress;
International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies;
Jewish Bahamas.

Photo Courtesy of Freeport Hebrew Congregation